Why can't my baby just SLEEP?

Seriously, he is 15 months and still does not sleep through the night. He wakes up at least once a night crying. I just don't get it. Does anyone else have a baby that is still up during the night? Any suggestions?

My DD doesn't sleep through the night either! It's funny how different each child is. My DS had a terrible time putting himself to sleep at bedtime, and at almost 4 I still have to sit with him some nights until he falls asleep. But once he's sleeping he's good 'til morning. Terrible sleeper at first, but then would sleep 12 straight hours by 5-6 months old.

DD, at 15 months, can fall asleep just fine on her own at naptime and bedtime. But, she still wakes up at night. Sometimes she falls asleep on own, but there is often a couple times she starts screaming and needs patting back to sleep. And she still gets up for a bottle around 4am every morning and then goes back to sleep for a few hours. I feel like we have tried about everything, too. We have tried letting her cry a bit, but that just doesn't seem to work for her or for us. She just ends up waking up her brother and then we're in even a bigger mess. It seems like she is always teething, or sick, or something that she just needs extra comforting at night. I can count on one hand how many times she has slept through the night. She did on Christmas eve - didn't wake up 'til 7am. It was a Christmas mircale, lol!

I guess I'm not being very helpful, but just wanted to let you know that you are not alone!!

Personally, I would start waking up at the same time each morning and make sure he gets enough TWT (total awake time) every day, which is about 10.5-11 hrs at this age.

I he wakes up at 7 am, then your schedule works:

7 am up
(5 hr WT)
12-2 nap
(6 hr WT)
8 pm bed

5+6 hrs = 11 hrs TWT, perfect.

However, with an 8:30 WU, you have a problem:

8:30 WU
(3.5 hr WT)
12-2 nap
(6 hr WT)
8 pm bed

3.5+6 = only 9.5 hrs TWT, which is way lower than he needs at this age, and will cause him to make up for it at night.

Then what probably ends up happening is that he sleeps in the next day, doesn't rack up enough TWT, and ends up having more NWs, etc.

Try a consistent wake-up time; 7 am is perfect. Get him up at this time every day for two weeks, keep an eye on the TWT and put down as soon as he has reached at least 10.5 TWT. So if the nap ends up shorter or longer, your bedtime may move earlier or later.